118 



The Grape Gulturist\ 



killed iifteeu vines. Except in two 

 cases, we found and dispatched liim 

 without mercy. We first noticed the 

 effects of the borer about the latter 

 part of July, and frequently found 

 them until the latter part of August. 

 In others the root was eaten off from 

 five to eight inches below the surface. 

 Only Concord vines have been affect- 

 ed, and only those that we obtained 

 from a neighboring vineyard for plant- 

 ing last spring. Not one of our orig- 

 inal vines have been destroyed, though 

 we have four acres equally exposed 

 to the attacks of this "new destroyer. 

 Any information that you may be able 

 to give ns upon this subject will be 

 thankfull}^ received. 



Yery respectfully, 



Simmons k Tillson. 



Sulphur Springs, Sept. 10, 1868. 



Mr. D. C. Peebles, D. D. S., of St. 

 Louis, also brought me a large Con- 

 cord vine that had been entirely sev- 

 ered from the roots and killed by this 

 Avorm, and I also received specimens 

 about one-fourth grown from T. AY. 

 Guy, of Glenwood. 



The above letters convey a very 

 good idea of the manner in which this 

 borer works. It seems to have oc- 

 curred in the Concord vines more gen- 

 erally than in those of an}' other va- 

 riety, but I think that this may be at- 

 tributed to the fact that more Con- 

 cords are planted than any other kind, 

 for, as the following facts will shoAv, 

 the borer is evidently a ver}^ general 

 feeder. h\ the early part of June, 

 1867, ]\tr. (). B. Galusha, who was 

 then with the ad interim committee 

 visitinu* Southern Illincis, sent me a 



worm in all respects similar, which 

 was found boring into the root of an 

 apple tree. I have also received Osage 

 orange roots from Kansas, which were 

 being bored by the same fellow, and 

 he is evidently partial to rotten oak 

 stumps, for, not only have sevei*al per- 

 sons, who are well able to judge, as- 

 sured me that they have found him in 

 such stumps, but Mr. A. Bolter, of 

 Chicago, also found it in such stumps 

 in Kentucky, and sent me the speci- 

 mens for identification. At the meet- 

 ing of our State Society, at Columbia, 

 Mr. I. N. Stuart even avowed that he 

 had found it partly grown, not only 

 in seedling apples but in the roots of 

 corn stalks, while Chas. Connon, of 

 Webster, assures me that he has found 

 it in the heart of felled hickory, and 

 I ascertained thnt he was perfectly 

 capable of distinguishing it from the 

 common borer (Cerasj^horus cinctiis, 

 Drur}^), which infests hickory when 

 felled, and which causes what is known 

 as " powder post," he being quite 

 familiar with this last named insect. 

 There are several large beetles in the 

 West which must have larvae very 

 similar in appearance to this, and it is 

 not at all unlikely that different in- 

 sects have here been confounded, but 

 the figure at the head of this article, 

 with the following description of this 

 grape-root borer, will enable any one 

 to recognize it in the future. 



Now, to what insect does this borer 

 belong ? It is manifestly the larva of 

 some long-horned beetle of the family 

 Prionid.e, but of what particular spe- 

 cies cannot be positively stated till 

 the beetle is reared fi-om grape-root- 



